Finstock railway station explained

Finstock
Symbol Location:gb
Symbol:rail
Borough:Finstock, West Oxfordshire
Country:England
Coordinates:51.853°N -1.469°W
Grid Name:Grid reference
Manager:Great Western Railway
Platforms:1
Code:FIN
Classification:DfT category F2
Original:Great Western Railway
Postgroup:GWR
Years:9 April 1934
Events:Opened as Finstock Halt
Years1:5 May 1969
Events1:Renamed Finstock
Footnotes:Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road
Mapframe:yes
Mapframe-Zoom:13

Finstock railway station serves the village of Finstock and the hamlet of Fawler in Oxfordshire, England. It is some distance from Finstock itself,[1] being situated to the north-east of Charlbury Road (the present B4022), which crosses the line on an overbridge.

The station and all trains serving it are operated by Great Western Railway. Finstock is the least used station in Oxfordshire according to the official passenger statistics.[2]

Finstock railway station featured in Geoff Marshall's YouTube series of Least Used Stations where his special guest was Ben Goldacre.

History

The station was opened by the Great Western Railway (GWR) on 9 April 1934, originally being named "Finstock Halt"[3] and having two platforms.[4] Each platform was approached by an inclined path from Charlbury Road, and each had a corrugated iron shelter with windows only in the end walls.

On 5 May 1969 it was renamed "Finstock".[3] The line was singled on 29 November 1971, the former up line now carrying traffic in both directions, and the redundant down platform was removed. By September 1980 the former GWR waiting shelter had been replaced by a simple shelter open on three sides. On 9 March 1987 the former up platform was taken out of use and replaced by one built over the site of the former down line. Evidence of the former up platform and access ramp is now overgrown.[1]

Services

Since at least February 1999 the station has been served by a minimal service of two trains per day, one in each direction.

This service is currently formed of the 08:08 train to, via, and the 17:41 train to which operate Monday-Friday only. There are currently no weekend services at the station with a normal service running on most Bank Holidays.

References

Notes and References

  1. Book: Stretton . John . British Railways Past and Present . Oxfordshire; A Second Selection . 55 . 2006 . Past & Present Publishing Ltd . Kettering . 978-1-85895-203-1 . 34.
  2. Web site: Least Used Stations. https://web.archive.org/web/20190411193058/http://geofftech.co.uk/leastused/index.html. 11 April 2019. Geofftech.co.uk. Geoff. Marshall.
  3. Book: Butt, R.V.J. . The Directory of Railway Stations . 1995 . Patrick Stephens Ltd . Yeovil . 1-85260-508-1 . R508 . 97 .
  4. Book: Robertson, Kevin . Great Western Railway Halts . 1 . Irwell Press . Pinner . 1990 . 1-871608-17-1.